Khajuraho Temples

A small child was riding a huge cycle at about 11 am and I could not but ask him, 

“What about your school?”.

“School’s over”, he said.

Wow...school is over by 11 am in this town!

Everyone comes to Khajuraho for the temples. (Click for info)

The triune!

All my life I had heard of the sensual images at the walls of the temples. As kids we laughed at them. We thought of them as the world saw - India a land of kamasutra! 

Is this how we define India?

 But all of it evaporated when our guide started talking about the temples!

“Kajuraho means ‘khojo apni raah’, ‘find your road’.”

Our jaws dropped!

Our guide - The vedanta scholar!

“These buildings were constructed for the students of the times. They reflect our Vedanta...the highest and deepest authority for Hindus on life and its meaning.”

We could practically hear our patterns breaking. So we threw the mental chatter away and ...listened!

“Every possible source of pleasure is all around us. 

Food, sex, sleep etc. 

But also around us is the vast field of divine consciousness. 

It is up to us what we pull towards us. 

So the temples are a way of reflecting life itself. 

What do you get drawn towards? 

Which imagery beckons you? 

For, we have the sensual ones and also the meditative ones.”

Stunned into silence, we simply heard him. And bit by bit, we felt a quiet calm. So much so that the guide’s non-stop monologue felt intrusive and we sent him away half way, with full fee! We ‘felt’ the place and it was a nice feeling. We simply wandered around and ended the day with a smile in our hearts.

Perhaps we touched our real ‘Raah’!

Caution!

We did find some shopkeepers having a ‘whites only’ attitude. Indians’ obsession with skin! We weren't welcome for we paid in Rupees and of course bargained!